Smoothies are easy to make without much of a mess to clean.
Blog: chef@large
By Vikrant Bhasin
WASHINGTON, DC: For those among us who consider themselves as permanent members in the tribe of foodies, there is a perpetual anxiety of loading on the pounds. Many foods that ‘taste good’ are generally speaking high in calories and low in nutritional content. These ‘good tasting’ foods are for the most part high in sugars, or oils and fats, or both. And eating too many of them makes one’s body fat.
What’s wrong with being fat is that it’s counterproductive to health and longevity. Good health leads to happiness, and happiness is exactly what foodies crave. Is eating foods that make us happy not the way to go? The answer to that is yes and no; it depends on one’s state of health, but more importantly the answer lies in one’s definition of happiness. The definition of happiness that works well for me states that happiness is the absence of hurting someone and that I am someone as well.
In my case – and yes I’m fat – high-calorie intake gives me happiness, however temporary it may be. I do not want to deprive myself from my Ritter Sport Milk Chocolate with Whole Hazelnuts or a Chipotle’s Barbacoa Burrito. However, lately what I have been seeking is a happiness that lasts a bit longer that a 24-hour cycle. So I have learned to tweak my diet. While I continued eating at Chipotle, I did change my order to a Salad with Chicken, Salsa and Fajita Vegetables. And it still tasted great. Chipotle’s website has an excellent calorie counter as well.
Another change was to start shaking things up. I mean literally. I started using a blender.
Smoothies or shakes have become a large part of my diet. They are easy and quick to make without much of a mess to clean which is an added bonus. The two types I blend are green or salad shakes and high protein fruit shakes. The ingredient in a typical green shake are leafy greens; I tend to use a salad mix, cucumber, scallions or green onions, herbs such as cilantro, parsley or dill, lemon or lime juice, avocado, which give the drink a creamy and appealing consistency, cayenne pepper, salt and water.
Fruit shakes are super easy; use any favorite fruits, whey protein powder and water. I also add Psyllium whole husks as a fiber supplement. I drink them when I get hungry instead of eating a regular meal. These shakes are for the large part, a whole-food and plant-based diet. This goes well with a book I have been reading, ‘Forks over Knives’ by T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell B. Esselstyn. They have a web presence as well as a documentary by the same name.
Flavor is what makes us like certain foods over others. My American instructors in chef school knew what they were talking about when they announced in the kitchen that flavor comes from bone and fat. This food philosophy holds true for most Western and European cuisines, especially French. Chicken or Veal stock is the base of most sauces. It’s by reduction of stock that higher intensity of flavor is achieved and it’s common practice to finish sauces with butter and cream. The final product is mouth-watering.
Sauces in Eastern cuisines are as flavorful without the addition of butter and cream and are for the most part, vegetarian. Eastern cooks skillfully use spices and aromatic herbs and plants to make sauces tasty. In Thailand, stocks are made from lemongrass, kaffir leaves and galangal. Indian cooks are versatile in creating various spice blends for different foods and flavor is achieved by deglazing. Japanese use ocean plants to create flavor and nutrition in their soups. Many American cookbook authors and chefs have taken notice of this and are now achieving flavor from plant rather than animal products. When it comes to personal health, this surely is a step in the right direction.
Eating a balanced diet or eating everything in moderation helps those who are in weight maintenance mode. As overweight myself, I recommend a radical solution that has been helping me lose weight. Cut daily calorie intake to the mid-hundred from the recommended two thousand, by eating high nutritional, high fiber foods. Say temporary bye-byes to most sugars, carbs and fats. Once the target weight has been achieved, eat with moderation. Read about diets and dieting. Stick with one or custom design one to your personal needs.
I love food in all its variety and as a die-hard foodie, I have certainly misappropriated this love for things edible. It took years of training on my past to put on weight, and it will take training in the future to lose it.
(Vikrant Bhasin is a hands-on chef, part-time culinary instructor and food consultant. Raised in India on a steady Punjabi diet of aloo parauntha and dahi, mutton biryani and raita, gajjar-ka halwa and jalebi, he realized early on that the very “womb of happiness” was located in a full-belly. Since then he has been a lifelong student of the craft of cooking and the art of eating. Coming to America broadened both his culinary skill in international cuisines as well as his waistline.)